Is Fintech A Force For Climate Action?
- Daisy Moll
- 1 day ago
- 3 min read

It’s not the first sector that springs to mind when talking about climate innovation. Financial technology, best known for streamlining checkouts, challenging traditional banks, or innovative lending (if at times questionable) might seem peripheral to the climate conversation. But as the green transition accelerates and consumer behaviour becomes central to sustainability, fintech companies are emerging as powerful, if unlikely, climate players.
At Sustainable Times, we've seen a growing trend of banks and financial service companies seeking to position themselves within the sustainability conversation, from purpose-led fintech startups like ekko, to large-scale initiatives such as HSBC Innovate.
One such example is Klarna, the Swedish buy-now-pay-later giant. This week we sat down with their Director of Sustainability on the Profit Meets Purpose Podcast to understand more how they are approaching sustainability.
Listen to the full episode here.
With 150 million active consumers and 700,000 global retail partners, Klarna sits at the epicentre of consumption. For Director of Sustainability Salah Said, that positioning is both a responsibility and an opportunity.
“Our own emissions as a service company are small,” he says. “But our real impact lies in shaping how people consume and how long they keep what they buy.”
This mindset has led Klarna to pioneer initiatives beyond traditional ESG box-ticking. In recent years, they’ve experimented with carbon footprint data on 150 million products, launched an in-app resale function powered by partners like eBay and Poshmark, and introduced values-based filtering to help shoppers align purchases with their ethics.
Klarna has done all of this without explicit climate messaging, but by embedding sustainability into the logic of smart shopping. According to Said, consumers care less about a product’s recycled content and more about whether a brand shares their values. Framing sustainable choices as value-driven not virtue-driven.
Circularity Meets Convenience
One of Klarna’s most intriguing moves, is the launch of its Resell feature an in-app service that lets users seamlessly list past purchases for resale. For a company that is built around consumption this may be considered a somewhat conflicting initiative. However, they have expanded their offering to reflect what they view as a positive shift: consumers seeking to retain the value of their clothing. In doing so, they have positioned themselves within this recirculation of goods, reclaiming value that might otherwise be lost to landfill or diverted to external resale platforms.
“We wanted to move beyond just measuring impact to actually enabling better use,” he explains. “Resale wasn’t just about circularity. It was about helping people retain value.”
With over half a million listings a day, it’s proof that when circularity is made convenient, it scales.
Backing Climate Tech
Klarna’s climate ambitions also extend to directly funding startups. Through its Climate Transformation Fund, the company diverts an internal carbon fee to support cutting-edge carbon removal and decarbonisation ventures, from direct air capture firms like Heirloom and Climeworks, to biochar innovators. It actively becomes an early customer of these startups, helping them scale by providing predictable revenue.
“There aren’t enough buyers for these solutions,” Said explains. “If we don’t step up, who will?”
Fintech’s Strategic Leverage
Why does this matter beyond one company?
Because financial services sit at the intersection of money, data, and decisions. That unique position gives them leverage to shape not just how we spend, but how we think. The right prompt, incentive, or feature can nudge millions toward better choices.
Some of the sector’s sustainability strengths include:
Data infrastructure to measure and communicate carbon impacts
Incentive structures to reward sustainable behaviour
Platforms that aggregate and influence consumption habits
An AI-Driven Climate Future?
Looking ahead, Klarna is investing in AI for climate resilience, launching a programme to support startups using AI to help vulnerable communities adapt to climate change. The initiative will offer funding, mentorship, and access to Klarna’s AI expertise.
“We don’t want to preach sustainability,” says Said. “We want to make it the smart, default option.”
Said was passionate about encouraging startups to think about sustainability from the outset. It’s a competitive advantage and increasingly, an entry requirement. Regulators, investors, and corporate partners alike are raising the bar.
“Don’t retrofit sustainability. Embed it early,” Salah advises founders. “And don’t go it alone, there are experts, startups, and nonprofits already solving these challenges. Work with them.”
Listen to the full episode here.
If you are a founder with the next idea the likes of Klarna will want to invest in apply to The RISE Awards.